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"In a number of clear cases where police have not paid attention to those breaches escalation has occurred and it's had terrible consequences," Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said.

"I don't think that we could have made it any clearer in the code of practice just how seriously we want our members to take family violence."

The commission heard family violence complaints make up a relatively small proportion of all crime reported to police.

But the complexity of family violence matters means they take up a large chunk of police resources.

"Pretty much every member I speak to ... will say 'most of my shift is taken up by family violence matters' and if I push them to a percentage depending on where they are it will vary between 40 to 60 per cent of their time," Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said.

Services under strain from increasing numbers of victims

Earlier the inquiry heard Victoria Police and frontline services were struggling to cope with a dramatic increase in the number of family violence victims willing to speak up.

When the Victoria Police family violence response system was reformed a decade ago it was anticipated police would deal with 25,000 incidents each year, the commission was told.

The most recent figures show police are now responding to close to 70,000 calls for help annually.

Jacky Tucker from Women's Health West told the commission the increase in the number of women willing to report was a positive.

"Over the last 10 years I think there has been a consistent message from leaders in this state, really clearly saying that family violence is unacceptable in our community," Ms Tucker said.

But she warned frontline services like Women's Health West in Melbourne's western suburbs were bearing the brunt of those increased numbers.

"I think there needs to be a recognition that the family violence services are responding to this historically we have been funded as a case management service and we are generally moving our money around to match that," Ms Tucker said.

"I think we need to make it much more targeted response and have the appropriate resources for that."

Fiona McCormack, chief executive of Domestic Violence Victoria, told the commission it was important police were properly trained to deal with the large numbers of victims needing help.

"During all the reforms when we have seen funding invested in the system I don't think there has ever been any funding invested in Victoria Police," Ms McCormack said.

"We have got some police members with a much more sophisticated understanding of the dynamics, the causes the impact and severity particularly those who are working closely with family violence services have a better understanding, but it's not necessarily consistent across the board."

'It doesn't have to be a secret': victims urged to come forward

Earlier today, a family violence survivor told the commission how her former partner physically and emotionally abused her after locking her in a car for more than two hours.

The woman cannot be identified and was referred to in the commission as Jessica Morris.

Ms Morris said strong support from a police officer who handled the case gave her the strength to end the relationship and press charges.

She said she hoped telling her story to the royal commission would help other women speak up about family violence.

"It's a secret and I think that's what needs to happen, people need to know, people need to talk about it. It doesn't have to be a secret," she said.